Holiday In Hoi An, Ancient Heritage Village Of Vietnam

Today's post is NOT about my holiday but it is all about my sister's holiday in Vietnam with her husband and younger son. When she reached Vietnam, she forwarded some photos to us and also to inform that they have reached safely. As you can see from the photos, the hotel is surrounded with all the beautiful plants and old-fashioned settings. It is a very beautiful place.

The idea to document these lovely photos in my blog came a few days later (thanks to our friend, Lynn). I message my sister to inform her of my intention and she willingly forwarded more photos to me and also contributed with comments regarding the photos. So, all these photos are credited to my sister.

Hotel Ha An, in the ancient heritage town of Hoi An in Vietnam, altogether 24 rooms in all. I had to message her to confirm on the spelling of the name of hotel.

This is the main block in white, regal looking.

This is the side wing, in charming yellow.

Lovely flowers and plants.

The room my sister stayed in, on the ground floor.

Reception @ main building.

Bedroom - flower and rose petals on bed.

Daily complimentary fruit basket is served.

Unique bath with no shower curtain. Real plants in hanging pots.

Flowers, rose petals and pebbles flooring for shower.

Dining area - inside air-conditioned, outside fresh air.

Early morning breakfast + fresh air.

Humid and hot in the day time. By night all lighted up like fairy land.

A town of bicycles and motorbikes. Most houses with bougainvillea on the roof.

At night all the roads are closed to traffic. Typical night scene - all shops along the streets are lighted up with plenty of tourist.

Lakeside by evening.

Total transformation of lakeside by night!

Full of tourists, shops and stalls opened and lighted up!

Made to order clothes, pants, shoes, etc. in 24 hours.

Branded coffee beans of your choice. Blend and brew according to order.

Vietnamese coffee, dripping drop by drop into a glass cup

@ MYR 10.78 or 2.99 USD.

And this is the amount of coffee for MYR 10.78!

Typical Vietnamese serving of salad and herbs on red snapper.

Pork ribs with glutinous or sticky rice and salad.

Name of shop is Morning Glory, which is

another name for water convolvulus (kangkung in Malay).

It is good to give thanks to the LORD,

to sing praises to the Most High.

It is good to proclaim Your unfailing love in the morning,

Your faithfulness in the evening,

accompanied by a ten-stringed instrument, a harp,

and the melody of a lyre.

(Psalm 92:1-3, New Living Translation-NLT)

Tea Leaves Smoked Chicken For Dinner At #129, Bukit Pagar, Tapah

Finally, on the last day of our stay in Semenyih, we decided to take up the kind offer from a friend to travel back to Ipoh in her car instead of taking the KTM-ETS train back to Ipoh. We decided to sacrifice the return train tickets and with that, our hosts need not have to rush us to the railway station.

After our breakfast in Semenyih, we all travelled to Kuala Lumpur to meet up with some relatives of our hosts. Their relatives run an eatery and we had our lunch there. They served both noodles and economy rice (chap fun) with many variety of dishes. (Again the photos went missing so no photos!)

While travelling on the North-South Highway, a lady friend mentioned an eatery in Tapah that served tasty tea leaves smoked chicken and the place is only opened for dinner. When food lovers get together, the topic on food will sure to surface. To cut the story short, our lady friend called up to order the tea leaves smoked chicken and the fish head curry. Orders must be placed in order for the dishes to be prepared in advance. Once the order is placed, the boss reminded us that dinner will only be served after 5 pm.

Since we have plenty of time, we made a short stop at the Tapah R&R rest place. Stalls selling many variety of local fruits, both fresh and pickled, rojak sauce too.

At this time of day, there were not many customers. The stalls are selling almost the same items.

When we reached Bukit Pagar, we were not very sure of the exact location. Saw a young boy on a motorcycle, requested for direction and he very kindly led the way on his motorcycle and once there, he sped off without giving us a chance to thank him.

Easy to find the above landmark, the Bukit Pagar community hall on left side of main road. The house (eatery) is just opposite the community hall.

Address: No. 129, Bukit Pagar, 35000 Tapah, Perak.
If you are interested, you can call these numbers:
016-562 5543, 016-539 2608.

We were the first customers. We all ordered plain water.

First dish to reach the table, tasty and yummy Fish Head Curry.

Their signature dish - Fragrant Tea Leaves Smoked Free Range Chicken (kpg chicken). We ordered half a chicken as we were not really hungry.

Chicken was very tasty, the meat very tender.

Stir-fried fresh bamboo shoot with fermented bean curd (lam yee). It is tender and crunchy. Its been a long time sine I last ate bamboo shoot.

Halfway through our meal, we wanted to add deep fried cuttlefish (sotong) but was informed that we have to wait quite a while. So we decided against it. Already bookmarked this place for my foodie friends!
Cost of dinner for 4 people MYR 52.00 (14.51 USD)
(incl. 4 plates of white rice, small portion & 4 glasses plain water)

He has caused his wonders to be remembered;
the Lord is gracious and compassionate.
He provides food for those who fear Him;
He remembers His covenant forever.
(Psalm 111:4, New International Version-NIV)

Having A Good Time In Semenyih

Today, I am suppose to post about the dinner we had in Broga and the durians that we ate for supper the day we arrived in Semenyih but I couldn't find the photos. I must have misplaced or accidentally deleted the whole lot. So clumsy of me!

Anyway, after our durian supper, some of us played mahjong games till past midnight. The rest of us just sat around, exchanged updates and chit chat until we went off to bed. That ended the first day in Semenyih.

Next morning, Saturday, I woke up early and took this sunrise photo. Some of us were already up and about, but those who played mahjong the previous night were not yet awaken from their beauty sleep.

We went for our morning walk with our host outside the compound. A nice place for morning walks because it was very quiet, the air fresh and no traffic at all.

Fruit trees and plants in the backyard.

Passion fruits - fruiting season almost over, only last few fruits waiting to ripen.

Preparing to go out for breakfast at Semenyih market and do some marketing for the night's steamboat or hotpot dinner.

The prices here are much cheaper and some of the things sold here are not sold in Ipoh's markets. Markets are very interesting places.

Yam bean salad rolls wrapped with seaweed. This is my first time eating this. I love it and will go back for more on my next trip. I should have taken pictures to show what they put inside. Hopefully I will remember when I go again.

Dry stirred wheat flour noodle (pan mee dry version) with deep fried dumplings (wanton), deep fried anchovies (ikan bilis) and minced meat.

Curried steamed flat rice noodle (chee cheong fun) with deep fried stuffed beancurd served in a stainless steel plate.

Banana leaf wrapped nasi lemak, tasty with plenty of sambal paste and peanuts.

Friendly games of mahjong to pass the time.

I have not mastered this game yet, so I didn't join in.
Finally, dinner time!

Ingredients for steamboat or hotpot, mostly bought from a frozen food shop near the market. So many variety to choose from.

In the old days, whenever we have steamboat or hotpot gathering, there will be loads of tedious washing, cutting and preparing of ingredients but nowadays almost everything was prepared and frozen, even meat were thinly sliced, vacuum packed and ready to be used.

The ingredients I enjoyed most is the veggie and soup.

We over-estimated the ingredients for 9 people. Left over more than enough for another round for next morning's breakfast.

Boiling pot of delightful, yummy treasures!

And now, my little children, stay in happy fellowship with the Lord

so that when He comes you will be sure that all is well and 

will not have to be ashamed and shrink back from meeting Him.

Since we know that God is always good and does only right,

we may rightly assume that all those who do right are His children.

(1 John 2:28-29, The Living Bible-TLB)